Earlier this year, I had the privilege of attending AdWeek EU in London during a rare sunny week in April. Being a university student, I had wide open eyes and ears for this experience. I took tons of notes, but one individual stood out more than the others. Sure I may have been lucky to have met and talked to Maurice Levy, CEO of Publicis Groupe, but he wasn’t the one who inspired this post. I was fortunate to sit in on a session called the “Megatrends of Advertising”, keynoted by Leo Johnson from PwC.

The sad reality is that our capitalistic advertising culture found in developed economies can no longer support itself.

As a Canadian, I still remembered the fanfare that Netflix got when it entered Canada. But to this date, the available selection still isn’t the same as the American offering, for obvious licensing reasons.

UNICEF, in collaboration with Giorgio Armani has launched an addictive (or not so addictive shall I say) mobile campaign that prevents you from using your smartphone. For every 10 minutes that you don’t touch your smartphone, sponsor Giorgio Armani will provide one glass of water to children in need.

#5 Photoshop Live – Street Retouch Prank (Adobe):

Pedestrians waiting for a bus were treated to a live personal Photoshop session that had them baffled. The usual bus shelter’s ad poster was replaced with an LED screen and a camera linked to a nearby van where a team of graphic designers and photo editors were seated inside manipulating the pedestrian’s photos as they waited for the bus. This definitely showed off Adobe Photoshop’s tools in a fun way, and the video went viral within minutes.

I was recently challenged on Twitter by Ingrid Green (@Ingridium) to come up with a plan to market the 2014 FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup. Ingrid Green is an avid supporter of women’s soccer in Canada, and is someone who you should all follow in the lead-up of to both the 2014 U-20 and 2015 FIFA Women’s World Cup tournaments.

FIFA U-20 what? Yup, that’s the problem. Canada is playing host to a world-class soccer tournament next year, in preparation for the 2015 FIFA Women’s World Cup, which we are also a host to. The problem is that word of the U-20 tournament is a rare find. Here’s how they can fix that:

Heineken has released a new series of television spots targeting the adventurous. However, there is one television spot, although creative, that that falls outside of their brand. Their Departure Roulette ad shows an electronic board being set up in an airport terminal, with a large red button beside a row of letters that will continue to flip until your destination city is chosen. Above this, the text “Drop everything. Push button. Commit to [City Name]:” is displayed.